Landscape
by betcher
Summary: Johnny draws McNulty. [Strontium Dog]


McNulty swears he came into the room with every intention of continuing the search for errant missing time bomb #3 - he really swears on his granny's grave and he doesn't do that lightly - but those plans were abruptly cut short when he caught sight of Johnny sunk so far into a massive plush sofa all that could be seen of him was a peek of his wild hair. Grinning now, he vaulted lightly over the back of the sofa and landed snugly on the faux mork leather surface in an explosion of dust, making the cushions (and Johnny) bounce lightly in place.

"Surprise!" McNulty cheerfully shouted, then cuffed Johnny lightly in the head. With the other hand, he patted down the area behind him until he closed his fist around the wee round thing that was digging into his back. He tossed it away from him without looking, and the springs creaked as he readjusted to settle himself. Only then did he see that Johnny was staring in his direction with a look of irritation, eyebrows all bunched up and everything.

McNulty looked down at what Johnny was holding, and noticed the jagged scribble across the landscape drawing.

"Oh. Sorry."

Hang on. Drawing?

"It's okay. And yeah," Johnny murmured, answering the unspoken question around the pen cap in his mouth. He smoothed a thumb over the dark line before flipping to another page. "Drawing."

McNulty waited for an explanation, but after watching Johnny fiddle with the pen cap for a few seconds he realized none would be forthcoming. "I dinnae knew you drew. Or had hobbies for that matter. Where'd you even find the time to learn?"

Johnny shrugged. For a second McNulty thought he'd leave it at that, but his secretive friend gave a straight answer about himself for once. "I had to draw a lot since I led a lot of scouting expeditions. Layouts of compounds, positions, plants, things like that."

McNulty peered over Johnny's shoulder and shamelessly flipped over a few pages. Johnny lifted his hand slightly in defensive surprise, but he really should be used to this kind of nonsense by now. "Aww, hey! You're not too bad with people either!"

Johnny shrugged again, but still answered him. "It was one way to pass the time. Anatomy is easy, especially with these." He took one hand off the notebook to gesture vaguely to his eyes, and in that split second of distraction it was tugged right out of his lap. Johnny tried to snatch it right back, but after a brief unsuccessful struggle, he leaned back further into the sofa and folded his arms, giving it up as a bad job.

"And besides," Johnny continued a little louder, ignoring McNulty's crow of victory. "General Armz used them to teach me pressure points and places to target in hand-to-hand. Used my drawings to teach the others as well. See the areas I circled?"

"Mhmm." McNulty was still lost in the crowded pages of the sketchbook, marveling at the deft hand of his unexpected artist-friend. Suddenly, he stopped rifling on a page, hand hovering over a large illustration.

"Those are the joints you should target first. Got me out of a few tight spots. Kreelers can't fight for sneck, and they barely know how to use their hit-sticks proper anyway. Works well enough on humans, and humanoid aliens tend to have the same spots. Kinda weird if you think about it, but - whatever. It's not guaranteed, but it's still a good idea-"

"Hey now," McNulty interrupted, a little loudly. "Is this me?" Johnny blinked out of his reverie, tipped off by the weird tone of voice. He glanced to the side, but McNulty's open book of a face was turned away from him, so no luck there.

Johnny frowned, before recalling what McNulty must be talking about. He activated his eyes and quickly scanned the page in question, just to make sure. It wasn't anything special, it was just a quick sketch a few months back, of McNulty asleep in his hammock. More of him out of it than in, but still somehow managing to strike a precarious balance. McNulty loved the planet, and it loved him back. Unsurprising, considering it was a sentient planet. He seemed to soak up the warm, bronze light of the setting algorianii-v sun and radiate it in ways beyond the literal, and it was such a rare moment of peace that Johnny couldn't help himself from reaching for the stubby piece of charcoal in his belt. Snecking sentimental, he knew.

Still, Johnny watched him warily. He didn't think it was anything offensive, but McNulty was still acting snecking weird. "If it's the one I'm thinking about, yeah. Show me?"

McNulty duly turned around, and Johnny realised that he shouldn't have worried. McNulty revealed his broad grin, and, glittering at the eyes, wrapped him up in a huge, rib-cracking hug that squeezed all the air out of him.

Ah. Johnny's hand hovered over McNultys back, before settling gently between his shoulder blades. It lasted an uncomfortably long time, but when McNulty eventually let go, the next thing he did was swipe the back of his hand across his eyes.

"McNulty?"

"Aye aye, I'm fine," he said, waving off his concerns, but the dabbing sleeve and red-rimmed eyes said otherwise. "It's just-" He paused emphatically, looked back down at the crumpled and tear-stained sketchbook between them and fell silent again. When he looked back up, he was noticeably more subdued. "I dinnae think anyone would've ever wanted to draw me afore." He quietly admitted.

And for some reason, Johnny was alarmed to feel something welling up in his chest. He blinked, twice, hard, and was relieved to feel no tears spilling out. Clearing his throat, he offered hesitantly-

"Well. You want to keep it?"

The grin McNulty gave in response to that was dazzling.


End file.
